The Pilot with the Strangest Kill Rate in History
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- Опубликовано: 29 апр 2024
- In 1945, while conflict dwindled in most theaters, the Pacific remained fiercely contested. Amid this chaos, Lieutenant Louis E. Curdes, already notable for downing German, Italian, and Japanese aircraft, suddenly encountered an unprecedented challenge.
Piloting his P-51 Mustang "Bad Angel," Curdes was patrolling the Philippine Sea when he spotted a C-47, an American transport plane veering dangerously off course, aiming straight for an enemy-held airstrip.
The aircraft below could have been a Japanese decoy or, more alarmingly, an American crew unwittingly on the brink of capture. Curdes radioed down a stark warning: (QUOTE) “For God’s sake, keep away from shore. Japs there.”
He then initiated a series of maneuvers, firing warning shots in a desperate bid to divert the plane's course. Yet, the C-47 advanced.
Suspecting the worst but acting with the determination of a seasoned fighter, Curdes closed to 20 yards, about to make a fateful decision. Few had achieved the distinction of downing aircraft from three nations. Curdes, however, was about to distinguish himself further, marking German, Italian, Japanese, and now, under extraordinary circumstances, an American plane.
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As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
Some additional information.
Lt Curdes married the nurse, Svetlana Valeria Shostakovich Brownell
His plane (or a likeness) is on display at Pima Air and Space Museum.
Curdes was born the same year as my passed away father. Some incredible people came from those times.
Nice story on my grandfather. The name is pronounced with a long E. “Cur-Dee’s”
Dee's what?
He was a badass and one hell of a pilot.
I suspect he knows the real pronunciation. This channel tends to mispronounce or mis-state something on every video, I believe to generate more comments, which in turn affects the algorithm.
Holy cow. Nice, man.
Incredible story that I'd never previously heard. Excellent work, Lt. Curdes!
What an incredible story!
Lt. Colonel Curdes was one hell of a badass.
Proud to know that he was a fellow Hoosier, may he rest in peace.
Horser or hoser, where from?
@@CFITOMAHAWK 🤣
You missed the most important part of it.
He married the nurse.
He sure did
The only guy to "shoot down his wife" before she shot him down! 😆 It's a great love story!
@@glennnickerson8325---Didn't she stay married to him?
@@brokenbridge6316 I believe she did. I hope they had a happy life together!
How many guys have to shoot at their wife and still get to marry her....
Usually a Shotgun wedding has the guy on the business end of the gun....
Yet instead of a Shotgun wedding, this was a 6x50cal wedding⁉️🤔⁉️😉
Honestly brother I love hearing these stories of Heroes from our greatest generation.
Forced to ditch into the Philippines sea or be captured by Japanese troops? That aircrew was very lucky.
And prevented handing over a perfectly good C-47 that would certainly have been used for no good.
@@AaronS11979wouldve been used the same way we used them... 😅 Don't go "no good" when it's anyone but your own guys
@@Steve.._. no it's quite possible that they would use it as a recon or some sort of infiltration aircraft. Wolf in sheep's clothing and the like
Gotta say 🤔 the U.S. airmen he shot down may have been lost and had a bad radio, still ; A mustang pilot buzzes you, even fires warning shots and you still can’t figure out you should follow him ?!? That’s a new level of ‘’not getting the message’’ 😅
Right.. WTF..
Once the adrenaline is pumping you aint thinking
The Geneva Convention didn't prohibit serving in the same theater that one was captured in; that was US policy.
The reason that the States had that mandate was that when enemies found out that pilots went up against enemies twice, they weren’t treated so good.
You are also wrong.
It was due to the vengeance factor , when highly trained soldiers will make risky costly decisions based on revenge for their captors.
Personal experience.
Also incorrect…. It’s much more simple. A pilot that was shot down and escaped back to allied lines would have knowledge of the local resistance, friendly civilians, safe houses, and other highly sensitive information that if captured, could be extracted and used to put every other downed pilot thereafter, not to mention our allies, at risk.
@@dangeary2134 you are clueless if you think that. ryan hit it accurately. Chuck yeager even stated so in his autobiography.. The only reason he was allowed to return to fighting in europe was that the resistance was openly fighting the germans after the allies invaded the mainland.
@@MysticalDragon73Yes, an insult and referencing the memoirs of a elderly pilot does counter the official historical record.🙄
We sure had a lot of bad ass pilots in WWll.
Amen.
And at least 1 absolute jacka$$ pilot flying that transport .
They truly wrre the greatest generation.
Proof that you never let a LT have the map. It took him over a year to travel 90 miles.
To be fair they were crossing Italy. It took us a week just to look at a few parts of Florence.
@@Turnipstalk I wonder how many babies looked just like him a year later.
That had to be a very tough decision on his part to do his best to keep his fellow soldiers from being taken prisoner. He made the right decision to take out the engines enabling to crew to survive.
the last part of the story was truly incredible⚛😀
America had heroes at every turn during WW2, We could sure use them now. Makes me think of my dad, a WW2 USAAF Aviator / instructor. Days before his passing at 92, He told me through his tears, that he regretted not having one more hour to share more knowledge with each cadet that he had as to perhaps save that pilot from the enemy, this after sixty years had passed. I told him it was war dad and they needed the boys in theater and that he did the best he could with what was given. Sixty years later and still bugged him. I gave him a hug and a kiss on his forehead and said "Dad, you'll always be our[families] hero" and thanked him for being the best dad I've ever heard of. He was gone two days later, gone but never forgotten. Thanks to all the warrior/heroes America had then and now, yet desperately needs and thanks to those still willing to carry and fight for our Flag. Heroes are rare but like gold; Precious!
america also committed the most severe crimes.
@@darkracer125220million Chinese civilians never existed then?
Absolute Chad for sure. Seems like the mustache seems to be required to be in that top ace tier at least at one point in the career regardless of branch.
Great video, thanks for sharing.
WOW !! One your best stories !!!! Thanks
The close ups of Curdes flying his P-51D were amazing video....I didn't realize how much he looked like a young RONALD REAGAN....
Like to see any airforce personnel do anything remotely close to this now. These guys were just pure balls, with a ton of skill under the circumstances
Flying 400+ mph in a machine with less technology in it than a 1970's 4-function pocket calculator.
Things have changed. There are no dog fights. There is no mass air combat with thousands of enemy planes. You don't outfly the enemy. You probably can't even see the enemy aircraft you shoot a missile at, and neither can the enemy when he shoots his missile at you.
You can get taken out by all kinds of mobile AA from all and any terrain, from 1 or 100 miles away. You probably can't even land on some beach or field.
that story was pretty cool...tnx!
Amazing how many of these historic WWIi missions Ronald Regan flew.
Biden was his co-pilot when they shot Osama bin Laden down in Vietnam, 1776.
@@My_Fair_Lady Regan was not a pilot, he was an actor in many USAF training films, the footage is widely used in historical WWII videos due to the lack of authentic combat film. I expect you already knew this but couldn't resist the opportunity to express your opinion.
@@My_Fair_Lady Um, that would be Carter you are talking about
@@My_Fair_Lady Arrogant and opinionated indeed.
@@My_Fair_Lady Which policy?
None other than ronald reagan is shown in the clip flying a fighter.Great video.Thank you.
For those that do not know that 6th kill is the aerial recognition mark of the WWII Italian Air Force.
Thanks! 👍
This story would make a good movie!
What a story .Just imagine making that last decision shooting USA plane ...wow
What a marvellous story. Guts and determination knows no bounds. From the old Aussie. I dips me lid.
The plane is on display at Pima air and space museum
His aircraft is featured in the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ.
What a great story
Thank you
Wow, what a story! And what a great pilot!
Have you done a video on joseph beyrle?
So, he shot down everything but British planes? That's amazing!
And russian
wat a story. thanx
I would have imagined that there were several german pilots who shot down soviet, british and american planes. Some of them must have also had a crack at the odd french, polish, belgian, norwegian and even italian planes, not forgetting spanish. Did you check?
of course this m0ron didnt check he just wanted to put out another inaccurate video.
and a certain pilot accidently shooting down a German plane
A time for nobleness, a time for heroes!
Very interesting story indeed
Remember, friendly fire isn't
Curdes Ave. in Ft. Wayne.... prob named after him.... great story!
That was strange!
Wow an amazing story about an American hero. Thank you.
The later marks of the Mustang are good looking aircraft.
great stuff
These pilots did receive survival training prior to the war -- but maybe perhaps later into the war. I personally knew a P-38 pilot who detailed to me the survival training he had prior to going to Italy.
What a cool story 👍
A small 45-caliber pistol??
I don’t remember the context, but it Could have been the “liberator” a single shot stamped pistol 🔫 meant for the Maquis to use to kill a guard or soldier to “liberate” their (better) weapon. Look it up. Pretty neat. Better make that one shot count though!
This is Dark Skies. You'll get used to it . . .
Amazing story!!!!
Great story.
Ayyyyyyyyyyyy love youman!!!
Great story
is the brash American pilot in Porco Roso modeled after Lt. Curdes?
Batan is not an island, It's a peninsula on the island of Luzon.
"Bad Angles" reminds me of the wallet in the movie Pulp Fiction.
Very rude of the plane not stopping. 12:40
"bad angel". lucy with a halo. i dig it.
Does anyone know if there’s a biography of Louis Curtis? Did some googling, didn’t find any books, but would love to read his life story and more detail.
I dont know there is a dedicated biography written. I have seen tons of articles, plenty of shows, and chapters in many books. Of course, I had the benefit of hearing the stories from my grandfather himself.
@@christophercurdes7399if he was your grandfather, how fortunate you were to hear his stories. From what I learned in this video he was a badass American Hero!
gutsy.
I didn’t know there was a regulation re: an airman whom was an escaped POW was barred from flying again over the same enemy…
Does this mean if a pilot was shot down over German territory in Africa and was captured, even if they escaped and made it back to friendly lines, they couldn’t fly over German territory in Africa, or would the ban apply to flying over ANY German-held or -captured territory?
It happened to chuck Yeager but he was able to talk the general into bending the rules and he got to fly again
They could compromise the people that helped them. it was out of respect for people like the French underground.
4 airplanes make up a "Flight" not a Squadron.
C-47 pilot was like: „dumb da dumb di dumb, ahiagh!“ 🤪
Pfft, i thought he shot down an UFO 👽👾 😂
I like the clips of the p40’s and the THE FLYING TIGERS featuring John Wayne
Is that lex fridman in the thumbnail?
Is that Lex in the thumbnail?
any relation to curtis aircraft?
"The only pilot to shoot down planes from four different countries"? Given that Romania, Finland and Hungary all had air forces and were fighting the USSR under Germany during WWII, I have to question whether that statement is correct.
No man we count the American plane as well
One of your best videos for sure!
its a shite video with so many inaccuracies in it and clips of totally unrelated planes etc. only a fool would think this is a quality video or channel.
Many are called. Few are chosen.
Curdes pilot! Excellent.
Maybe there were only three American fighter pilots who shot down German, Italian and Japanese aircraft, but there must have been more than three Allied pilots who achieved that feat. Scottish-born Royal Marine Ronnie Hay was one, and I am fairly sure there were several Australians too.
11:00; Bataan peninsula, Batan Island
I hope they court-martialled the pilot that kept going despite a US aircraft trying to stop them.
9:16 anyone able to expand upon what it is about the Geneva convention that prevents pilots from flying over a theater where they were a PoW?
12:49 did the B-17 have this? I didn’t know this was designed into the plane. The more you know!
The amount of times I was lucky enough to be around B-17s Including 2 that we’re still functioning. Someone has to know more reading this. I want to know what this a thing. if so, was it implemented immediately? Later versions? Only specific versions that were designated and specific locations ie The Pacific Theatre or majority of the time above water..
good story
"Semper-Fi"
An amazing hodgepodge of random footage….
As I said above. This is Dark Skies. You'll get used to it . . .
great
Ronald Reagan at the 00:55 videomark.
Thought he looked vaguely familiar.
@@Im_Not_From_Around_Here
Old Ronnie made military training films in Hollywood during the war like many other actors.
I haven't been this early since my mom was 7 months pregnant!
That’s not what your lovers say…
😂😂😂😂😂
fetal alcohol baby?
Say WHAT?
And you're the father
Isnt this a reupload?
If not a re-upload maybe a repackaging. I do remember a video about this pilot who shot down planes from 4 countries. But it wasn't the exact same content.
WOW
What would the geneva conventions have to say about where an escaped POW was re-deployed?
None, US policy
@@raymondclark1785 ah, gotcha
again.. please reference the movie clips..
OK being Ft. Wayne is my neighborhood this Tube made the hairs on my back stand up.
The Greatest Generation!!❣️🇺🇲🙏
Am I the only one who thinks the dude in the thumbnail looks like Lex Fridman??
He spent a year walking through Italy?
I find that to be bullshit unless he spent most of that time hiding from the enemy. It would only take you at most a month to hike across Italy
@@nicholaspayne349 What wasn't held by the allies could be crossed in days, north, south, east and west.
That’s the problem, with hero stories, and sacred manuscripts.
Francis Gabreski.
Less than 1k upvotes? We’re all first, but one was First.
You can't get a stranger
score than that ⁉️🇺🇲⁉️
Personally an F4F fan, but the Mustang is the best overall fighter of th war..
Greatest generation
This WW2 story was also featured on yarn hub
Don't forget why he shot down the dc3 airplane over the airfield cuz his wife was in the same dc3 had his wife in the plane she was a nurse though
🕊️ Of peace
Really? The video didn’t state that he married that girl/date from the night before. I can imagine the wedding vows… will love you forever and promise not to shoot down any plane you are on ever again…
Another pilot shot down a US aircraft, Pappy Boyington :(
What a gal, what a gal.
Interesting, first thing that came to mind for the title were the Dambusters pilots, mostly killing fellow Allies and a ton of concentration camp victims forced to work as slave labor.
When you're a hammer...
Everything looks like a nail...
Merica💪🇺🇸